Dream
by MajorCartooniac
Summary: Major AU. Percabeth. Zombie apocalypse. In a world where monsters are actually infected humans, and Camp is a place for scarred survivors trying to fight off what the government couldn't, some people manage to smile through it all. Rated T for a reason-can change to M. Title inspired by song 'Dream', by Imagine Dragons. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAin'tNoOrdinaryGirl!
Percy stared through the old pair of binoculars.

Several figures stumbled around in the dirty city streets, which were overgrown with vegetation. They didn't really seem to have any real sense of direction, just a slow shuffle to nowhere.

Percy was watching one figure in particular. It was leaning out of a broken window of a car, with a layer of rust instead of paint. The car's tires were gone, and one corner rested on a crumbly patch of cement sidewalk, so it had a weird tilt to it. The door the figure was slouching on had a big, brown stain that dripped off the rust and onto the pavement. The only thing keeping it inside the car was the seatbelt, which was twisted into the decaying flesh of its right shoulder.

Percy adjusted the zoom feature of the binoculars to see and hear a sickening sound, one he knew all too well—the sound of flesh tearing apart. The figure leaning out of the car grasped the handle to the door and _pulled_ , finally escaping the window and landing on the ground with a _splat._ Free at last, but it left its bottom half and right arm behind, it began to slowly drag its remaining torso across the ground, its severed spine and intestines trailing behind it.

Startled, Percy jumped when the car started blinking and whining, even though he expected it. It'd been a while since he heard anything that loud. The shuffling figures in the street turned to the commotion, and shuffled towards it with renewed purpose. If one listened carefully, one could hear the rasping groaning of the figures.

Having done what he needed to do; Percy quickly packed up his equipment and left his perch the same way he arrived. A set of boards, that stretched between his rusting fire-escape, and a slightly higher set fire-escape on the building parallel to him. These could be found more frequently the closer one got the heart of the city, and were seen less often the farther away one got. Everyone who used it called it the Web, a fond nickname that stuck.

The boards were in the fourth story fire-escape, but Percy dauntlessly crossed the planks with the ease of what seemed like a hundred times' practice.

Finally reaching the familiar building, he made his way to where the elevators once were, stepping over twisted metal, debris and old blood stains. The stairs were a no-no, blocked off from the original panic with chairs, tables and anything else people could find. They could remove the junk, but the task would create much unwanted noise and risk. So, with the stairs effectively blocked off, there was only one way to go, which might be why they survived for so long. Stepping onto the make-shift platform, Percy tugged on a dangling rope twice, paused, and then tugged it three more times. A simple and easy way to let the Sentinels of whoever was trying to use the contraption were wanted, and who were not.

After a moment, the platform lurched, and then silently and slowly began making its way up to the Six-Hundredth Floor, where Camp was. See, the Six-Hundredth floor was a name for the very top floors of what used to be the Empire State building, which housed several hundred members of rebel survivors. Sounds of talking got louder as he got closer to the top. He passed several open elevator doorways, where people could be seen bustling through dimly lit hallways, getting ready for the day. Several waved at him as he passed, and he waved back. Some even hopped on, and hopped off the platform at different levels. At last, he reached the top, where a familiar grimy face met him with a smile.

"Good to see ya," Beckendorf said as he helped pull Percy up the last four-ish feet onto the last floor—the platform would get stuck if they pulled it up anymore, and no one wanted to fix it again.

Beckendorf motioned to his head to a doorway that led to a room that was larger than the rest, and was used for conferences. "You better get in there—Chiron and the others are waiting."

Once inside the room, Percy saw familiar faces—heads of different sections of the floor. You see, Camp (the entire Six-Hundredth floor) was divided up into rooms which had their own head to manage everything that went on inside said designated rooms. People chose which person chose which person/room/area they wanted to stay in, and similar people usually stuck together. Silena and Piper managed a bunch of women and girls who were like the girly-type, Annabeth and Malcolm headed the brainiac type people, Grover and Katie were the heads of the nature-lovers, Clarisse and Reyna was head of the aggressive people who wanted to go out and start killing things, Travis and Connor were the managers of the mischievous people, Beckendorf and Leo handled the engineer-nuts, Will and Frank directed the people who preferred the bow/arrow and the doctors, Nico and Hazel helped direct the small group of the more … _dark_ people, and Percy and Jason helped direct all the rest.

All the mentioned area directors/managers were gathered around an old ping-pong table, with all the camp head directors, Chiron, his less enthusiastic co-head, Dionysus, and their assistant or secretary, if you will, Rachel.

Percy quickly debriefed the room full of people about his Sentinel mission, and the car alarm, he sat down in his assigned seat next to Jason.

Everyone was quietly chatting with one-another, and only settled down after Chiron pounded his fist on the ping-pong table for order.

"You all know why we're here." Said Chiron. Anything remotely cheerful in the atmosphere of the room suddenly turned grim. There was a low supply of food left, and even with the rationing, it was slowly dwindling. They would need to restock soon. This meeting was to discuss who would go out on a scouting mission.

"I do not believe that we need to elaborate on the situation, this meeting is to decide who will go out and venture. We have already drawn up a list of places that might even have a food supply, weapon and ammunition supply, etcetera. Whoever goes will check these places, and report back which places have food so that a larger group can be sent out to retrieve these supplies.

"This will be a small mission; only four people will need to go. Do we have any volunteers?" Chiron's eyes scanned the room for willing volunteers.

Immediately, Percy raised his hand in the air. He almost always went on missions, not because he was brave, but because he would do _anything_ to keep people he loved safe, which included taking up spots on missions.

"I'll go." He said determinedly.

"Well _someone_ has to keep you out of trouble, so I'll go too." Annabeth ignored the disapproving glare that her (boy)friend sent her.

"No, you should stay here where it's safe." Percy stated.

Annabeth turned her steely gaze to meet his. "What are you implying; that I can't protect myself, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy looked a bit flustered and slightly averted his eyes. "N-no, it's just that…"

"It's just what?" Annabeth's brow furrowed a bit more. Percy thought that she looked cute when she was all determined like this—Gah, no, must focus.

"You haven't had much experience out in the field." Was the only good reply he could think of.

"I'll never get any if you keep protecting me like this!" Annabeth nearly shouted.

Chiron pounded the table again. Unbeknownst to the fighting couple, several people found this (what did Silena call it? 'Percabeth'?) amusing. Most were smirking, Silena looked ecstatic and Clarisse just rolled her eyes as they sat down—when did they even stand up?

"Percy, Annabeth will go with you. It will be good for her to get out of Camp." At that Annabeth smirked at her (boy)friend in victory, and Percy just sank lower into his seat and fumed. Jason could sympathise, arguing with a woman is like getting arrested. Everything you say can and will be used against you.

"Now, we need two more volunteers."

Hazel stood up, after a silent conversation with her half-brother who sat beside her. She shrugged, "I'm good with tunnels and staying silent, so I should probably go too."

A murmur of agreement rippled through the room. With one more spot left, Jason thought _why the hell not_ , and stood up. "I can go too." Piper's kaleidoscope eyes locked with his own blue ones from across the room.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Jason was about to reply but Percy beat him to it.

He gave Piper his signature lopsided grin and threw one of his arms around Jason's shoulders, making Jason fall back into his seat. "Jason can handle himself, right buddy?"

Jason playfully pushed Percy off himself and returned the grin with a matching one of his own. "Just as long as there aren't any more lovers' spats."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

People chuckled at the simultaneous response.

"Whatever you say, bro." They were so in denial, thought Jason, shaking his head.

"You should leave as soon as possible," said Chiron. "The car alarm a few blocks away will clear the streets somewhat, and you should take advantage of that."

With the main focus for the meeting off the table, they finished discussing minor details about the trip and disbanded to get ready for the trip.

 **~)0(~**

 **And there you have it, a different AU, huh? This will probably only be about three-four chapters long.**

 **Does anyone know why I'm posting this? BECAUSE IT'S IAin'tNoOrdinaryGirl's BIRTHDAY!**

 **EVERYONE GO WISH HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Even just check out some of her writing—it's amazing!**

 **HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you enjoy this! You are one of the nicest, most awesome, most inspiring people I have ever met. You never let anything get you down, and the courage you have to put a smile on every day, and to motivate yourself to update so often is so awe-inspiring.**

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 **Why are you still reading this? GO, SHOO! Wish IAin'tNoOrdinaryGirl happy birthday!**

" **See" you next time,**

 **-MajorCartooniac**


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